Overall, TFcon was excellent again this year. Registration was easy and well-organized, as usual. The panels ran on time as far as I could tell. There was a lovely showcase of 3rd party toys.
The comic made fun of the special guests, which seemed in poor taste. I hope that comic does not negatively impact the ability of TFcon to attract quality guests in the future. I would suggest a more careful editing process for the comic in the future.
I loved the Ages 3 & Up bags. Those were awesome for shopping in the dealer room. If those could happen again next year, that would great. Or, if TFcon wanted to sell a bag in addition to a shirt? I’d be interested.
The format of the TFcon 2016 Costume Contest was not as appealing as previous years. As with previous years, all of the children were winners, which was good. The next generation of Transformers fans needs to be encouraged, and by making all of the children winners, TFcon wisely avoids Parent Drama.
However, with the adult contest, they passed a signup sheet down the line, which was fine, but then it seemed they didn’t bother to use any of the information that the contestants had written down, which made the sign-up sheet seem pointless. Either use the information on the sign-up sheet or don’t have one. Either way is fine.
Then, they awarded a first prize and a best acting, and that was it, two total prizes.
TFcon 2016 awarded a first prize, best transforming, and most creative, which was better, because the most creative award went to one of the humanized Transformers. The costumers who make humanized Transformers put tremendous work into their outfits, and it was nice to see one of them get a nod of approval.
This year, there was a very intricate humanized Cyclonus who was a dead ringer for Alex Milne’s official MTMTE design, and she acted out Cyclonus’s stoic demeanour, too, for example. It would have been nice to see her or one of the other humanized Transformers get a nod.
TFcon 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012 all did first, second, and third prizes, which were also better options than what 2016 did, because by having a third prize, at least one more person was acknowledged and was able to take home some warm fuzzy feelings.
With regards to prizes, if there wasn’t money in the budget for a third prize this year, even a paper certificate would have been fine. It’s not about the prizes. It’s about the acknowledgement.
TFnation in the UK actually splits the contest into robots and humans/humanized/humanoids and has first, second, and third for both categories, for a total of six prizes!
http://tfnation.com/2016/cosplay-competition
The Quest Bar/restaurant was weird this year. In previous years, they’ve let me order off the normal menu, but this year, they refused to let me. Yes, I know that food is more expensive, but sometimes, I just want something somewhat fancy because I am celebrating.
In short, excellent convention, just needs some fine-tuning and continued progress.
